High quality cashmere cableknit sweaters

Short version: Christmas is coming, and my wife is going to give me a cable cashmere sweater as a present, my job is to find the "best" one. Money is not the main problem as long as the quality matches.

Universally known, Scotland, especially Hawick, makes the highest quality cashmere out there. However, 1) it is hard to get hold of them in the States and, 2) they make a wide range of cashmere products and I am unsure which one is high quality, which one is not. I do already own some from RLPL, but I do not consider them high quality, especially at the premium they charge. Ben Silver sells some but not my size (they carry everything from M up, but not S), and I do not know about their quality, though they do seem nice and the price of $500 a pop seems right. I have looked at several British companies like John Laing and Alan Paine, but faced the same problem of difficulty to get hold of.

Update (on what I have learned so far):
- Loro Piana and other Italian designers seem to have really nice pieces but obscenely expensive (at retail). Mark-ups are too high.
- Ben Silver hasthem, but not my size (S). They are made by William Lockie.
- A Suitable Wardrobe has crew neck made by John Laing, in my size, though color choice is too limited.
- Paul Stuart maybe a solution here, though I still need to figure out who makes them.
- Sierra Trading Post has some Johnston of Elgin at $425, which will go down to $300 using a 30% coupon. Pretty nice deal.Edited by onix - 12/5/11 at 1:40pm

I'd probably have to recommend Seletti for some of the best Italian cashmere I've seen. It's not cheap, but the quality does match the price point. They also let you implement a little customization if you order one, such as choosing a color for the outside and having a different color to contrast on the inside of a 1/4 zip, choosing buttons, etc. We normally stock smalls, but most of the time we end up ordering them.

On Loro Piana: I can't ask my wife to spend several grands on a sweater that is marginally better than what can be obtained at $500ish. And really, for that much money, I would rather fly to the other side of the Atlantic, buy 2 sweaters, fly back, and have some spare change. Like many other Italian brands (name your favorite here), the price and quality don't match. So yeah, Loro Piana at full price is out of the question. Of course, I would consider if they have deep discount sale.

Back to Scottish cashmere, I was informed that ASW carries some John Laing, and Ben Silver carries William Lockie. ASW doesn't carry a lot of colors, but they do have my size. For Ben Silver, maybe their M size would fit, so probably I will need to contact them for exact measurements.

Interesting, never heard of them before. A quick browsing around seems to suggest that they make mostly fisherman(-style) sweaters, which makes sense given that they're Irish. Nevertheless, I am currently looking for lower profile stuff at the moment. Thanks though.

http://www.fishermanoutofireland.com/ ? Drinkwater's in Cambridge, MA is a Styleforum affiliate and they stock this brand, though I'm unsure of Gary's inventory at the moment. He might be able to get a hold of whatever you like from there and ship it out to you if you see anything he doesn't have.

Have you tried ehaberdasher.com?
Just type cashmere sweater into the Search box and away you go. Everything is on sale, and a lot of it is in the Loro Piana quality range (e.g. I see some Kitons with cable knit details.)